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Full list of Members of the 39th National Assembly by region

Final results of the June 17 elections

Last updated: 16:30 GMT, August 2

* Iinternational Election Observation Mission's Press Release

BUSH APPEALS TO UDF TO SUPPORT THE NEW CABINET

3 August - In a letter to the ex-Prime Minister of Bulgaria Ivan Kostov the US President George Bush expressed his hope that the Union of Democratic Forces will help the governing National Movement Simeon II to continue along the path started 4 years ago, announced Mediapool agency. The letter, publicised by the UDF press center, expresses the high appreciation of the support given by Bulgaria to NATO during the intervention in Yugoslavia. President Bush points out that under Ivan Kostov and Petar Stoyanov's leadership Bulgaria has become a genuine friend of the United States.

BSP SUPPORTS NMS II AT PRESIDENTIAL VOTE?

30 July - The left and the post-election coalition between NMSII and MRF could come out with a joint nominee for the presidential elections. This envisages one of three options proposed at yesterday's plenum by BSP vice-chairman Georgy Bozhinov. Before the end of August an official meeting between the NMS II and the 'Coalition for Bulgaria' will be held. To us the acceptable variant is to have a candidate, who can win the elections and is singled out with the support of our coalition, leader Georgy Parvanov said. Our nominee for the president should personify the new consensus, Parvanov said. According to him, collaboration with the NMS II was a matter of time. Our offer to those in power will be standing, he said. The nomination of someone from the party in August will be accompanied by a political dialogue with parliamentary and extra-parliamentary formations, the socialist leader said. According to the second variant, the 'Coalition for Bulgaria' will single out a party nominee. It's possible that the coalition will stake on a non-party nominee with broader public support. Among the names of the possible nominees are those of Stephan Danailov, Ivan Slavkov, Irina Bokova, Andrey Pantev and Georgy Parvanov. I have information that personal negotiations on the vice-ministers' posts are being held with left-wing representatives, Parvanov said. He refused to specify the names.

NEW CABINET ANNOUNCED

23 July - The composition of Bulgaria's new government - led by the former King, Simeon II - has been announced on Sunday following last month's general elections. The prime minister designate has put young Western-educated Bulgarian bankers in charge of the economy. Both the new deputy prime minister and the finance minister worked for London-based banks before their appointments. Most of the new ministers are little-known officials from the ex-king's National Movement, which has formed a coalition with the party representing the Turkish minority, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms. The new cabinet is the first to include ministers from the Turkish party. Two of the ministers are from the ex-communist BSP and have been invited on a personal basis without any agreement with their party leadership. Thus the only major political force left out of the new coalition government is the outgoing Union of Democratic Forces. The Bulgarian parliament is expected to approve the new government on Tuesday. See list of ministers

TURKISH PARTY WITH TWO MINISTERS IN NEW CABINET

20 July - The National Movement Simeon II and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) of the ethnic Turkish minority in Bulgaria signed on Friday afternoon an official agreement for a coalition government. According to the agreement, MRF gets two ministerial positions - of agriculture and of emergency, 5 deputy ministers - among them of defence, economy and finance, and three regional governors - one of them in the capital city of Sofia. The ex-king Simeon did not exclude the possibility to give some positions in the new government to the ex-communist Socialist Party after the coalition talks with the outgoing United Democratic Forces entered a deadlock.

GOVERNMENT HANDS OVER POWER IN EUROPEAN MANNER

20 July - The Council of ministers proposed to the Simeon II National Movement to organize a ceremony of power transfer from the outgoing government to the new one, said Albena Ivaylova, head of the Cabinet's press office. Outgoing prime minister Ivan Kostov appealed to the deputy ministers and chiefs of ministries administration to acquaint the new ministers with all details on July 24 and 25. The government administration assured that all documents for the past four years were available in the archives. No cases of corruption have been registered in the Council of ministers in the past four years, Ivaylova said. One of the key tasks of the outgoing Cabinet had been the development of information technologies. A total of BGN 22 million has been invested in building an information and communication system of the government.

COALITION CABINET AGREED

17 July - The winner of the parliamentary elections a month ago, the National Movement Simeon II (SNM), and the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms agreed today to form a coalition government, announced the Chair of the SNM Parliamentary Group Plamen Panayotov. The future cabinet will have three vice-premiers, said the MRF leader Ahmed Dogan but refused to say whether he would be one of them. The Prime Minister nominee Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha noted that the cabinet will consist mainly of experts. The agreement will be signed at 1 p.m. on Friday. Until then no names of the future cabinet members will be officially announced.

FORMER KING FAILS TO BUILD BROAD COALITION

17 July - The ex-king in exile Simeon II who was handed a mandate by the President Petar Stoyanov to form the next Bulgarian government failed to build a broad based coalition after the former ruling party United Democratic Forces refused to join if the ethnic Turks Movement for Rights and Freedoms is one of the partners. Ekaterina Mihailova who succeeded outgoing Premier Ivan Kostov at the post of UDF leader said that a coalition with MRF gives the ex-king's movement a comfortable majority of 141 out of 240 seats in Parliament and there is no need for UDF to support the new majority.

SIMEON II AWARDED MANDATE TO CONSTITUTE CABINET

16 July - I am grateful to God for all that happened and for the opportunity to constitute the next Bulgarian government, said Simeon Saxe Coburg-Gotha in his quality of leader of the organization that won the parliamentary elections, after president Stoyanov awarded the mandate to him. Simeon arrived accompanied by professor Ognyan Gerdzhikov, already elected parliamentary spokesman and associate professor Panayot Panayotov, heading the parliamentary group of the national Movement for Simeon II /NMSII/ and the organization's co-chairs Vessela Draganova and Tosho Peikov. The mandate will be returned to Stoyanov on Sunday July 22, at 4:00 p.m., Panayotov said. Then the president is bound to issue a decree offering to parliament to elect Simeon Saxe Coburg-Gotha prime minister. On July 24 parliament will hold an extraordinary session to vote the structure and members of the proposed cabinet. The countdown of the 800 days in which Simeon promised to improve the living standards of the average Bulgarians will start from the first day after the cabinet is voted by parliament, Simeon said. He added that the address 'Your Majesty' belongs to history and that he will do his best to be as specific as possible in fulfilling the pre-election programme that won him the landslide victory in the elections. The negotiations with the United Democratic Forces will continue today.

SOCIALISTS GIVE A CHANCE TO NEW CABINET

28 June - The Coalition for Bulgaria will give a 100 day-tolerance to the new government formed by the winner at the parliamentary elections the National Movement Simeon II if it does not include ministers from the outgoing Cabinet of Ivan Kostov, said Georgi Purvanov, leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party. Purvanov, who was meeting President Petar Stoyanov in his series of talks with all political forces to be represented in the new National Assembly, warned that the new government faces the risk to be blocked in its functions by the partisan state administration inherited from the 4-year ruling of the United Democratic Forces.

THE KING WILL DECIDE ON THE PM AND THE CABINET

26 June - Simeon II will personally single out the parliamentary chief, the PM, the ministers and the candidates for district governors. This right was given to him by the statutes regulating the organization and activities of the parliamentary group of NMS II. According to the text the proposal for the leading posts are made by the chairman of the Council of the coalition and are voted at a joint sitting of the MPs and the Council of the coalition. The factionalism is explicitly forbidden and the rights of the MPs are clearly regulated. The solo acts, known from the previous parliaments, are out of question. Associate Professor Plamen Panayotov was elected as a PG's chief of the movement on a proposal from the King.

THE LEADER OF THE RULING PARTY STEPS DOWN

26 June - Prime minister Ivan Kostov took responsibility for the heavy electoral defeat of his Union of Democratic Forces and resigned from the post chairman of the party. The National Council of UDF elected the general secretary Ekaterina Mihailova for his successor, her position will be held by Plamen Ivanov and Foreign minister Nadezhda Mihailova will be leader of the parliamentary group of UDF. Ivan Kostov will stay as member of the National Executive Council thus ensuring continuity and effectively preventing a split in the party, said Ekaterina Mihailova..

EX-KING ONE SEAT SHORT FOR ABSOLUTE MAJORITY

21 June - The Central Election Commission announced the final results of the June 17 parliamentary elections. As expected, the uncontestable winner, the newly formed National Movement of the ex-king Simeon II gets 120 seats at the 240-member National Assembly and will be forced to seek a coalition partner to govern. Three other political parties and coalitions will be represented in the next Bulgarian Parliament, out of 50 parties taking part in the electoral contest of June 17. With 42.74 % of the vote the National Movement Simeon II is the winner. The ruling Union of Democratic Forces is second with 18.18 % and 51 seats and the Pro Bulgaria Coalition formed mainly from the ex-communists from BSP has 17.15 % of the vote that give it 48 seats. The Movement for Rights and Freedoms of the ethnic Turks won the unprecedented 7.45 % and 21 seats at the parliament. According to the Central Election Commission the voters turnout stood quite high at 67.03 %. The National Movement Simeon II will try to form a coalition with all political parties sharing its ideas, declared at his first press-conference in the night of elections the ex-king in exile Simeon II. Prime Minister Ivan Kostov conceded that his United Democratic Forces have suffered "a heavy election defeat". "We wanted the voter to pay a higher price than he was prepared to pay," Reuters reported Kostov as saying. Interview with Simeon

THE WINNERS ASK THE GOVERNMENT NOT TO SPEND AND NOT TO NOMINATE AMBASSADORS

20 June - The team of economists of the National Movement Simeon II issued on Wednesday a declaration appealing to the government and all state instituitions to be reasonable i responsible in spending budget funds, News.bg Agency reported. The declaration appealed for stopping all privatisations procedures for enterprises with "big public importance" and for concessions. The political moral requires that ministers restrain from redistributing public wealth till the new parliament is convened except in case of absolute necessity, reads the document. On Thursday, the government information office announced that the Cabinet decided to stop the procedures for selling two appartments in New York and for an additional agreement on the privatization of a copper enterprise in the town of Pirdop.On Friday, the Movement issued a second appeal to the outgoing government not to nominate new ambassadors and charge d'affaires till the successor Cabinet takes over.